The Everyday Challenges
by Celsius009
Summary: "It is often the most mundane that make us truly appreciate our limitations." Short stories about the group during their adventures.
1. Shackled

"C'mon Regal, you take for-ev-er!"

"Yeah man, I think I could go around and score half the hunnies here before you make it."

"Are you sure you just don't want me to run over to the castle and deliver the message? It might… Save us some time…"

"No! No, I can do this…" Regal called up to the circle of light far above him around which several heads broke the ring to look over and watch. _'I can do this…'_

He bent down and dried his hands on his pants again but by now they were so damp and dirty any filth he managed to wipe off would simply be picked up by the other hand. Taking a deep breath he leveled his head and reached forward, gripping the horizontal bar before him with an iron fist. He tested his shackles, then raised his other hand as far as the chains would allow, stretching for the ten inches to the next bar. It stopped at nine, tips of fingers barely grazing the cold iron as his other hand's fingers strained against his weight.

Putting his feet on the bottom of the ladder, he thrust himself upward and gripped the new bar with both hands tightly.

"He did it! He got one!" Zelos' voice carried down to him. He almost looked up to grin until he recognized the hint of sarcasm.

Regal let one hand slide out, fearful of how easily it did so, and stretched it for the next bar. It didn't help that the iron was smooth and cool, kept slick and grimy from the moisture of the sewers below. Or that their entire party had gone before him, rubbing the mud and sewer gunk from the deepest crevices of their boots. He doubted he could hang a sheet over one of the bars without it sliding off instantly. Not to mention the humid air below Meltokio beginning to make him sweat, mixing with the dirt accumulated from traveling the plains for days on end without a proper shower.

Yes, all of these factors had set before the man a task unlike which he'd ever been faced with: climbing a ladder. Now that he came to think of it, this was the only place in either world he'd encountered this particular foe. So appropriate, therefore, that it was all but undefeatable. _'So primitive. This sewer system must be seen to by our architects and have this abomination removed immediately. Perhaps an elevator or–"_

"Um, Mr. Regal? I can come down and fly you up if you want to..." Regal looked up to see Colette's face peering over the side of the manhole down at him, large eyes questioning. "I mean, I've picked you up before. You aren't that heavy…"

He had half a mind to accept the offer but his meeker side won out. "Ah, no. Thank you, Chosen. But I…" He realized there was no logical reason to not take this while it stood. No reason other than pride.

"Don't worry about him, Angel. Let him struggle if he's too stubborn to see a good chance when it's offered. Hey Lloyd, bet three gald I can get _her_ address before big man makes it three more."

"You're on!" Lloyd's and Genis' voices sounded simultaneously.

Regal ignored the sounds of idle conversations above him as he began his dangerous climb, each step taking him closer to outside and farther from the ground should he slip.

Several minutes later Zelos appeared in front of the light again, jingling gald in his hand. "Alright we're bored now, can we just go on ahead and have you meet us?"

Regal sighed, nodding his head silently as he shot his hands up from one bar to the next.

"Mmmkay, don't make it too far up though. We'll be coming down by the time you get near where-I'm-standing." And with that the red hair hanging over the side disappeared and the sounds of voices faded away.

Regal muttered quiet curses to himself as he continued his ridiculous trial, once or twice the thoughts of breaking the links flashing through his mind. Then he froze as voices were heard above him again, getting closer.

"…and I just don't know… Oh look. Someone doing maintenance forgot the cover here."

Regal wound his arms around the bars and threw himself to the side, putting most of his mass in the shadows away from the beam of light. A menacing looking man in prisoner uniform still wearing handcuffs and climbing out of a sewer could be misinterpreted in many different ways.

"Huh, well it doesn't look like anyone's down there. Gimme' a hand with this will ya?"

Regal's eyes widened as he stared up at the circle, one sound of grinding metal turning it into a crescent, and then one more casting him in complete darkness.

He set his head back and let out a dejected sigh. Even if he _could_ make it to the top, how was he supposed to open it? With his head? Who knew how long it would be until anyone from his group thought to check the sewers again.

He felt for the bar under the one he was currently gripping for his life but felt only air. His new inability to see was the straw that broke the camels back, it seemed.

Regal groaned, knowing he would be hanging there for some time.

'_I hope you know what I do for you, Alicia…'_

_

* * *

_

**People ask "How does he fight with those things?" ****Pff. That's easy.**

**Day to day _living_, that's the challenge.**


	2. Idle hands are the angel's playthings

"Two-hundred and eleven... two-hundred and twelve... Oh wait..."

Had she counted that one already? That cluster seemed a bit familiar... Then again she'd started over three times now... Or was it four?

Colette let out a long sigh looking down from the stars. A quick scan of the horizon told her dawn was still hours away. Resting her chin on her hand as she poked at the fire with a stick, she tried thinking of any new games she hadn't played a thousand times already.

She'd already mastered Genis' ball-in-a-cup, could carve figurines almost as detailed as Lloyd or Presea could, and had tried on every combination of Raine's and Sheena's clothing with her own.

Another sigh as she slumped back, looking over her shoulder to where Lloyd slept. "Wake. Up." She mouthed silently, willing him to stir so she could have someone to talk to.

He didn't.

Rolling her eyes she picked up a gald she'd set beside the fire earlier, low glitter catching the dying light. It flew across her knuckles with unparalleled dexterity, and she yawned in boredom as it flipped halfway back, forward one finger, back three, and all the way down again in 1.5 seconds. It rolled off her pinky to be caught by the other hand which toyed with it for some time before she stopped mid-roll, letting it fall to the ground again.

She cast a glance around the dark forest. A furry creature darted up the base of a tree and disappeared. Three meters away a mosquito hovered over Regal's face, as if carefully weighing her reflexes versus the meal before it. She dared it to land and it didn't disappoint.

Three seconds after it did so it was being lifted away by its delicate wings towards the dark trees. Colette wound her arm back and chucked it like a stone, high above the treetops. She squinted as she spotted it passing in front of stars before it disappeared into the darkness.

Her momentary excitement from having something to do began to die as she scanned the area for more insects. A gnat hovered near the top of a tree but the smoke from the campfire seemed to be keeping most at bay...

That had to have been at least an hour, right? She looked back to the stars but saw they hadn't moved since she'd counted them last.

Gaze shifting around the sleeping members of her party, she remembered an idea she'd gotten a few nights ago after mastering stones. She knelt silently by Lloyd's sleeping bag and grabbed a strand of her long blonde hair. Using the end she barely grazed the area just under his nose.

Still-sleeping Lloyd swatted at his face as he began to turn, Colette's quick hands diving into his bag and retrieving the swords he'd been holding. On the way to the opposite side of the fire she quietly stooped and picked up Zelos' sheath as well. In case she messed up it would be best if she was some distance from the others...

A quick breath. Relaxed shoulders. Get the rhythm in the head then... Zelos' sheath swung into the air, caught by her other hand as one of Lloyd's pursued it. After a few rotations Lloyd's other sword followed suit, three long sheaths twirling gracefully in the air and smoothly transitioning from one hand, the air, to her other hand, and back to the air again.

Her eyes narrowed in focus as her right thumb began pushing one wooden guard down. That sword went into the air and she did the same for the next that landed in her right hand. Then the third.

The first sword's sheath slid off causing the blade to under-rotate, but she swiftly corrected the movement and spun it back into the air while kneeling to compensate for the extra motion. She lowered again and again for the second and third before standing slowly, three swords glinting as they caught the firelight in the air.

Her pride in accomplishment was quickly eclipsed by the fact that this skill had little challenge left to offer her. She looked over her shoulder, spotting Presea's axe lying beside the fire. She calmly made her way over to it, swords still twirling, and felt around the ground with her foot. Locating the shaft she slid her toes up to the head. She frowned for a moment, wondering how she was going to do this.

She sped up the overall speed of the swords, tossing them higher and pausing slightly after Zelos' left her right hand. Once she had the new pattern in her mind she kicked her foot up, two-handed axe spinning easily with her angelic strength and joining the other dancing weapons.

Colette kept it going for several minutes before growing bored again. She dropped each weapon quietly to the ground so as not to wake the others and went to shuffle through the party's bags again.

"Colette?"

She spun from where she crouched, eager to interact with someone. Genis propped himself up on an arm, rubbing sleepy eyes. "What're you doing?"

"Looking for your ball-in-a-cup, where'd you put it?" Colette whispered, opening his bag wider to show him it wasn't there.

"I told you, it's called a kendama. And I hid it so you'd stop playing with it." Genis muttered, lying back down and turning over. "Go to sleep, Colette." He added without thinking.

Colette stuck her tongue out at him as he began snoring again. Even if she couldn't sleep, made the perfect watch with her night vision, enhanced hearing and senses, it wasn't fair she had to do it every single night. The least the others could do was assign at least _one_ other person to keep her company...

Another yawn of boredom rested her eyes on a long ribbon sticking out of the pile of bags. One of Sheena's hair ties. A new idea occurred to her as a mischievous smile spread her features.

* * *

Regal's internal clock woke him four hours after midnight, as usual. For some reason it seemed much darker than normal however. It was getting later in the year but... Not even the stars were present. Muffled sounds around him seemed somewhat urgent, why couldn't he see them? He looked around in confusion before realizing something was over his face.

He felt around his head feeling fabric.

"Give me _that_!"

Regal was blinded as the thick cloth jerked from his eyes which had been looking directly at the sun. He blinked rapidly trying to regain his senses, sounds much louder now nothing was covering his ears. Blurry vision spotting Zelos' white shoes beside him he looked up, the noble standing there wielding a headband barely recognizable.

The long red hair had been decorated with small hair ties. Presea's, if he wasn't mistaken. All of them, if he wasn't further mistaken. The entirety of his head been segmented and pigtailed, making his scalp look like a farmland for hastily tied bunches of hair. It looked as if Zelos had tried undoing several of the dozens but had given up and settled on covering as much of his head with the headband as he could.

Regal's bemusement was overshadowed only by his confusion. A grunt of frustration turned his attention to Genis, struggling and flopping out of his blankets. Familiar greaves ran from his shoulders to his fingertips, locking his small arms out and weighing them down so much he couldn't lift them from the ground. Pushing himself to a squatting position he tried rising before tumbling forward again. He looked up and saw Regal watching him. "Regal, why?!" He cried as Sheena ran over to help him... Sheena with baggy clothes, pants that were too short for her and silver hair drawn into a messy ponytail.

Regal looked down and noticed his bare pant legs, a different color from the shin-down than the knee-up from exposure. He rotated his ankle feeling how light it was, if only to take his mind off the overload of madness in front of him.

Motion drew his attention to the right where Lloyd inchwormed past him. Sheena's waist-sash was tied around the top of his sleeping bag, covering his eyes but leaving his mouth free to breath. Every few feet down another set of hair ties wound around the outside of the bag, so tightly Lloyd evidently couldn't move his arms or legs.

"I'd ask for help but you guys sound like you have your own problems... I'll just wait, then..." Lloyd sighed resignedly.

In the distance a rabbit darted into a hole in the hillside, something strapped to its back. Immediately after Sheena, wearing her spare ceremonious robe from Mizuho, dove shoulder-deep into the hill. She struggled for a moment before pulling her arm back victoriously. A small harness held half her cards, upon realizing this she let her head fall back with a heavy sigh of exasperation before starting to dig the hole wider.

Regal pinched the bridge of his nose trying rationalize everything. It had been years since he'd slept in this late... He felt someone's presence and looked up to see Presea in Raine's oversized robes, untamed hair wild in all directions. He hadn't realized how much she normally bunched into those pigtails...

"You're wearing my dress." She stated monotonously, finger pointing at him through the elbow of a sleeve.

He looked down, seeing a small child's dress stretched across his wide chest. Presea frowned, walking to his side. "How did you do that?" She asked cocking her head.

"I... Really couldn't tell you." Regal answered, examining his shoulder. Fine recent stitching could be made out along the shoulder seam. He rose his head to give the chaos another once over, spotting Colette by the fire juggling two different sized swords, an axe, staff and kendama, tongue sticking out in concentration.

"But I think we should start assigning a night watch. To keep Colette company."

* * *

**Personally, I think it'd be great to not have to sleep. It'd be like living another lifetime's worth of experiences and skills. Of course your roommates might have some issue with it...**


End file.
